:/i!3ROn    LIBRARY 


I".  &.  rniiL.e3mv^«% 

Published  Monthly.     Volume  132.     Number  2. 


SIXTY-SIXTH   YEAK. 


NOV5    1935 

*  THE 


NORTH  AMERICAN 
•      REVIEW. 


EDITED  BY  ALLEN   THOENDIKE  EICE. 


February,   1881. 

I.  The  Nicaragua  Canal General  U.  S.  GRANT. 

II.  The  Pulpit  and  the  Pew OLIVER  WENDELL   HOLMES. 

III.  Aaron's  Rod  in  Politics Judge  ALBION  W.  TOURGEE. 

IV.  Did  Shakespeare  Write  Bacon's  Works  ? .  .JAMES  FREEMAN  CLARKE. 
V.  Partisanship  in  the  Supreme  Court Senator  JOHN  T.  MORGAN. 

VI.   The  Ruins  of  Central  America.     Part  VI DESIRE  CHARNAY. 

VII.   The  Poetry  of  the  Future WALT  WHITMAN. 

NEW  YORK : 
D.    APPLETON    AND    COMPANY. 

LONDON:    SAMPSON  LOW,  MARSTON,  SEARLE  &  RlVINGTON.      PARIS:    THE  GALKiNAXI  LIBRARY. 

BERLIN  :    A.  A6HER  &  Co.      GENEVA  :    J.  CHERBULIEZ.      ROME  :    LOESCHEU  &  CO. 

MELBOURNE :  W.  ROBERTSON.    YOKOHAMA  AND  SHANGHAI :  KELLY  &  WALSH. 

TERMS.—  Five  Dollnrs  n  v«»nr.      Sin*rl«  nnmhor.  Fifrv  fVnts. 


Volume  131  of  the  North  American  Eeview. 

V 

NOW   READY,  COMPLETE. 


CONTENTS. 

JULY. 

1'rince  Hisnmrok.  as  a  Friend  of  America  and  as  n  Statesman.   Part  I.   MORITZ  BU6CH. 
Canada  and  Hi,    I'mird  Slates.    1':  DWIH  SMITH. 

BARTLETT. 
,    Lord-.    J.    E.  TIIOBOLU   UOMCUS,  M.  P. 

A.    HAUl'AK 

A 

Profligacy  in  Fiction.     A.   C. 

AUGUST. 

[«•  i.tTenir:il  America.    Tin:  Ki>rn>u. 
•  -paper  label.    J<>n\   PBOFFA  IT. 
Niillin  r.ncipation  Edict.     KICHAKD  H.  DANA. 

•    Taxation.     Pro*  Xl'AvroMH. 

Mi-inar.-k.  »>.  n  Friend  of  America  and  as  a  Statesman.   Part  II.   MOKITZBUSCH. 
l.ili-ralun  . 

SEPTEMBER. 

ml  America.     Parti.     IM>IKI:,  (Ti. \UXAY. 
i  (  binese  institutions,    s.  WKM.S  WILLIAMS. 
of  Mrs.  Surnift.    .I«>nx  W.  Ci.AMlMTT. 
itlitv  of(iod.    Pi-.>f.->si.i'  NV.  T.  HAHUI.S. 

. 
in  tin-  1'uipit.    i;«  v.  }•:.  K.  11 

ill  the  Hraiii  and  Nc;-v<>s.     In.  (iicOIJGE  M.  BEARD. 

'HER. 

The  I)  Party  jiidwd  hy  iis  History.     KMI.KV  A.  STORES. 

ICCeM   "f  (i  Unlit.     THOMAB   A.    Ki 

ul  (Vnlnil  America,     i'art  II.     In,sii:r:  cnAUXAT. 
• 

TIII-AV  \Vi;n.iii-. 

I    <  li.u-rli   I'roperiy.     BOV.  Hr.  A.  \V.  I'll  / 
l'rn«re-s  in  Asironon,  m.N. 

/;/;. 

Principle  in  our  Cniixtitlltion.     NV.  P,.  I, AWRF.NVE. 

-  :>i^<-iissi I'.isimj.  \v.  c.  UUASB. 

BLAIB. 

.H  t    I  i  I.       Di  >IKI      CIIA! 
••Hie    to    I  I.. 

Maud-point:    An    A«l<li  .  J.  J. 

P.    KAl'.MIJl.  CB 

HAVIH 

..1GMAN 

I).  D. 
TW  Viilldi' 

Price,  unbound,  $2.50  ;  bound  in  Cloth,  $3,50  ;  in  half  morocco,  $4,00. 

I  v  A'/.T/y.-ir,  AV,, 


THE 


NORTH    AMERICAN 


REYIEW. 


FEBEUABT,  1881. 


No.  291. 


Tros  Tyriusque  mi  hi  nullo  discrimine  agetur. 


NEW    YORK: 
D.    APPLETON    AND    COMPANY. 

1881. 


COPYHIQHT  BY 
ALLEN  THORNDIKE  RICE. 

1881. 


*«M  of  Prmek  Hart  *  Co.  Nnr  York. 


NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW. 


FEBRUARY,    1881. 


ART.  PAGE 

I.  THE  NICARAGUA  CANAL.     By  General  U.  S.  GRANT.  107 

II.  THE  PULPIT  AND  THE  PEW.     By  OLIVER  WENDELL 

HOLMES 117 

III.  AARON'S  ROD  IN  POLITICS.     By  Judge  ALBION  W. 

TOURGEE.  139 

IV.  DID   SHAKESPEARE   WRITE   BACON'S  WORKS?     By 

Rev.  JAMES  FREEMAN  CLARKE,  D.  D.       .       .       .  163 

V.  PARTISANSHIP  IN  THE  SUPREME  COURT.    By  JOHN  T. 

MORGAN,  United  States  Senator.       ' .        .        .  176 

VI.  THE  RUINS  OF  CENTRAL  AMERICA.     Part  VI.     By 

DESIRE  CHARNAY 187 

THE  POETRY  OF  THE  FUTURE.    By  WALT  WHITMAN.  195 


THE  Editor  disclaims  responsibility  for  the  opinions 
of  contributors,  whether  their  articles  are  signed  or 
anonymous. 


Bancroft  [  -Jjrary 


NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW. 

No.  CCXCI. 


FEBRUARY,    1881. 


THE  NICARAGUA  CAML 


THE  construction  of  a  ship-canal  across  the  isthmus  which 
connects  North  and  South  America  has  attracted  the  attention 
of  governments,  engineers,  and  capitalists,  in  this  country  and  in 
Europe,  for  considerably  more  than  half  a  century.  The  allusions 
to  the  possibility  and  importance  of  such  a  work  made  by  trav- 
elers and  scientists,  almost  from  the  time  when  America  was 
discovered  down  to  the  day  when  practical  investigations  were 
commenced  by  the  government  of  the  United  States,  had  left  a 
deep  impression  on  the  public  mind ;  and  the  rapid  growth  of 
the  American  Republic  in  population  and  wealth,  the  increasing 
commerce  between  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific  oceans,  the  long, 
tedious,  and  dangerous  passage  from  shore  to  shore  around  Cape 
Horn,  all  tended  to  strengthen  this  impression,  and  to  establish 
the  conviction  that  the  interest  of  the  American  people  in  the 
commerce  of  the  world  required  a  water  communication,  from  sea 
to  sea,  across  the  Isthmus  of  Darien.  It  is  now  more  than  fifty 
years  since  this  project  first  received  serious  consideration  on  this 
continent.  Under  the  administration  of  Mr.  Adams,  in  1825, 
correspondence  and  negotiations  commenced,  which  have  con- 
tinued up  to  the  present  time.  Turning  from  one  government  to 
another  for  aid  in  carrying  out  the  scheme,  the  people  of  Central 
America  soon  arrived  at  the  conclusion  that  they  must  look  to 
the  United  States  for  the  completion  of  the  work,  and  that  to 
them  especially,  on  account  of  location  and  institutions,  belonged 
VOL.  cxxxn. — NO.  291.  8 


108  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW. 

the  right  to  unite  with  that  state  through  whose  territory  the 
canal  might  run,  in  its  construction  and  control  In  1830,  in 
1831,  in  1835,  in  1837,  in  1839,  in  1844,  in  1846,  in  1849,  in  1858, 
plans  were  proposed  to  the  governments  of  the  United  States, 
England,  and  France  for  the  commencement  of  the  work,  until 
the  breaking  out  of  the  civil  war  in  this  country  presented  a  more 
important  topic  ior  consideration,  and  overshadowed  all  ques- 
tions relating  solely  to  industrial  development  and  international 
commerce,  and  ended  in  results  which  have  given  new  and 
vast  interest  and  importance  to  every  enterprise  which  can  add 
power  to  the  republic  and  advance  the  prosperity  of  its  people. 
Stepping  at  once  into  the  front  rank  among  the  powerful  nations 
of  the  earth,  the  United  States  has  entered,  as  it  were  sponta- 
neously, upon  a  career  of  development  almost  unparalleled  in  the 
history  of  the  world.  By  the  growth  of  States  along  the  Pacific 
coast,  by  the  erection  of  trans-continental  lines  of  railway,  by  the 
occupation  of  new  lands,  by  the  opening  of  new  mines,  by  increas- 
ing mechanical  and  manufacturing  enterprises,  by  the  introduc- 
tion of  her  products  on  an  amazing  scale  into  the  commerce  of 
the  world,  by  her  devotion  to  a  system  of  finance  which  requires 
incessant  industry  among  all  classes  of  the  people,  and  the 
cheapest  possible  means  of  intercourse  and  transportation,  the 
United  States  has  given  new  and  deeper  importance  to  every 
method  by  which  industry  can  be  advanced  and  commerce  can  be 
promoted.  It  is  during  this  short  period  that  the  value  of  even 
the  most  expensive  highways  has  been  proved,  that  mountain 
ranges  have  been  penetrated  by  costly  tunnels,  and  distant  seas 
have  been  connected  by  costly  canals,  and  it  has  been  demon- 
strated that  the  most  extravagant  investments  in  works  of  this 
description  are  remunerative  under  the  vast  commercial  ebb  and 
flow  which  characterizes  the  present  age.  Of  the  necessity  for, 
and  advantage  of,  intercommunication  of  every  description,  there- 
fore, there  seems  to  be  no  longer  a  doubt ;  and  it  is  with  this 
conviction  that  the  United  States  government  is  called  on  to  con- 
sider now  once  more  the  value  and  importance  of  an  interoceanic 
canal  on  this  continent. 

Of  the  advantages  of  this  canal  to  our  industry  and  com- 
merce it  becomes  us,  therefore,  first  to  speak.  In  this  connec- 
tion it  should  not  be  forgotten  that  the  states  of  North  and 
South  America  lying  along  the  Pacific  furnish  in  large  abun- 
those  commodities  which  are  constantly  supplied  with 


THE  NICARAGUA   CANAL.  109 

markets  in  almost  every  country  of  Europe.  Of  guano  and 
niter  the  trade  is  immense.  From  the  ports  of  Chili  nearly 
400,000  tons  of  freight  are  shipped  eastward  annually.  More 
than  1,000,000  tons  of  grain  are  shipped  each  year  from  the 
Pacific  States  and  Territories.  There  is  no  doubt  that  more  than 
4,000,000  tons  of  merchandise  find  their  way  from  these  regions 
to  the  East,  and  require  water  communication  in  order  that  they 
may  be  shipped  economically  and  profitably ;  and  this  is  mer- 
chandise to  which  railway  transportation  across  the  continent  is 
wholly  inapplicable.  The  great  wheat  crops  of  California  and 
Oregon,  for  instance,  find  their  way  to  Liverpool  around  Cape 
Horn  at  the  freight-rate  of  fifty  cents  per  bushel — a  rate  which 
would  not  carry  it  by  rail  half-way  to  Boston  or  New  York  or 
Philadelphia,  to  be  there  shipped  to  its  European  destination.  In 
addition  to  the  commerce  of  the  North  and  South  American 
ports  referred  to,  there  may  be  estimated  also  the  advantages 
which  would  accrue  to  the  trade  of  Australia  and  the  remote  East 
Indies  bound  to  Great  Britain,  and  which  would  undoubtedly 
add  1,000,000  tons  to  the  freight  seeking  a  passage  through  the 
canal.  When  we  consider  the  time  and  distance  saved  by  the 
canal  for  this  vast  amount  of  merchandise  by  avoiding  the  pas- 
sage around  Cape  Horn,  and  the  importance  in  these  days  of 
rapid  transit,  and  of  a  ready  approach  to  a  destined  market,  we 
can  readily  understand  the  value  of  the  enterprise  to  producer 
and  shipper  and  consumer  alike.  Leaving  out  of  consideration 
the  dangers  and  delays  of  the  Cape,  we  should  not  forget  that  by 
the  canal  now  proposed  the  distance  from  New  York  to  Hong 
Kong  is  shortened  5,870  miles  ;  from  New  York  to  Yokohama, 
6,800  miles;  from  New  York  to  San  Francisco,  8,600  miles;  from 
New  York  to  Honolulu,  6,980  miles;  from  Liverpool  to  San  Fran- 
cisco, 6,065  miles;  and  from  Liverpool  to  Callao,  4,374  miles;  and 
we  need  no  longer  question  the  value  of  an  interoceanic  canal 
on  the  Western  continent,  as  we  have  long  since  abandoned  all 
doubt  of  the  value  of  the  Suez  Canal  to  the  commerce  of  the 
nations  of  the  East.  To  Europeans  the  benefits  and  advantages 
of  the  proposed  canal  are  great; — to  the  Americans  they  are 
incalculable.  Forming,  as  a  canal  properly  organized  and  con- 
structed would,  a  part  of  the  coast-line  of  the  United  States,  it 
would  increase  our  commercial  facilities  beyond  calculation. 
Interfering  in  no  way  with  the  interests  of  those  lines  of  railway 
which  connect  the  Atlantic  States  with  the  Pacific,  but  tending 


110  THE  NOETH  AMEEICAN  REVIEW. 

rather  to  stimulate  and  increase  the  activity  out  of  which  their 
traffic  grows,  it  would  cheapen  all  staple  transportation  and  add 
vastly  to  the  ease  and  economy  of  emigration  from  the  East  to 
the  farms  and  mines  of  the  Pacific  slope.  That  a  canal  will  be 
of  great  benefit  to  the  commerce  of  the  United  States,  also,  there 
can  be  no  doubt.  Meeting  as  we  do  a  formidable  competition  in 
the  carrying-trade  to  foreign  ports,  we  find  in  our  coastwise  nav- 
igation an  opportunity  for  a  profitable  use  of  American  bottoms, 
protected  by  our  own  commercial  laws.  A  continuous  coast-line, 
including  our  eastern  and  western  shores,  therefore  promises  an 
increase  of  this  navigation  sufficient  of  itself  to  make  a  canal  a 
matter  of  the  utmost  importance  to  our  people. 

In  view  of  these  advantages,  the  question  naturally  arises 
with  regard  to  the  most  feasible  route  for  the  canal,  both  as 
regards  economy  of  construction  and  convenience  in  use.  On 
this  point  it  would  hardly  seem  as  if  there  were  room  for  contro- 
versy. The  difficulties  which  surround  the  Panama  scheme  have 
been  so  frequently  and  so  forcibly  set  forth,  that  they  need  not 
be  elaborately  repeated  here.  The  floods  of  this  region,  caused 
by  sudden  and  immense  rain-fall,  have  attracted  the  attention  of 
the  most  careless  traveler,  and  have  perplexed  and  confounded 
the  scientific  engineer  in  his  attempts  to  provide  some  method 
by  which  to  overcome  the  difficulties  which  they  create.  The 
impassable  and  unhealthy  swamps  lying  along  this  route  have 
always  been  considered  unfit  for  a  water-course,  and  so  destruc- 
Hve  to  human  life  that  labor  and  death  seemed  to  have  joined 
.  vnds  there.  The  necessity  for  long  and  expensive  tunnels  or 
open  cuts,  and  for  a  safe  viaduct,  has  added  vastly  to  the  expense 
of  the  route  when  estimated,  and  to  the  obstacles  to  be  overcome 
by  engineering.  The  most  careful  surveys  have  always  devel- 
oped a  discouraging  want  of  material  for  construction.  The 
addition  of  five  hundred  miles  to  the  distance  between  New  York 
and  the  ports  on  the  west  coast  of  the  United  States  by  the 
Panama  route  over  that  of  any  other  feasible  route  proposed,  and 
the  long  and  tedious  calms  which  prevail  in  Panama  Bay,  have 
never  failed  to  create  opposition  to  this  route  in  the  mind  of  the 
navigator.  The  enormous  cost  of  the  Panama  Canal,  moreover, 
has  never  been  denied.  Considering  the  engineering  difficulties 
attending  the  diversion  of  the  Chagres  River,  and  the  necessary 
construction  of  an  artificial  lake  to  hold  its  floods,  together  with 
the  tunneling,  or  open  cuts,  to  which  allusion  has  already  been 


THE  NICARAGUA   CANAL.  Ill 

made,  the  cost  of  this  canal  cannot  be  less  than  $400,000,000,  and 
would  probably  be  much  more — including  the  payment  to  the 
Panama  Railroad  for  its  concession.  No  American  capitalist 
would  be  likely  to  look  for  dividends  on  an  investment  like  this. 
Turning  from  the  Panama  route,  therefore,  as  one  which, 
when  practically  considered,  has  but  little  to  recommend  it,  either 
as  a  commercial  convenience  or  a  financial  success,  we  are  brought 
to  the  consideration  of  the  Nicaragua  route,  as  that  to  which  the 
attention  of  the  American  public  is  most  strongly  drawn  at  this 
time.  The  advantages  of  this  route  are :  the  ease  and  economy 
with  which  the  canal  can  be  constructed;  the  admirable 
approaches  to  it  from  the  sea,  both  east  and  west  5 '  the  distance 
saved  between  Liverpool  and  the  North  American  ports  over  that 
of  the  Panama  route ;  and  the  distance  saved,  also,  between  New 
York  and  other  Atlantic  cities  and  the  ports  of  the  United  States 
on  the  Pacific.  The  cost  of  the  Nicaragua  Canal  has  never  been 
estimated  above  $100,000,000 ;  indeed,  Civil  Engineer  Menocal, 
whose  judgment  and  capacity  have  never  been  questioned,  gives 
the  following  as  his  estimate  of  the  entire  cost  of  the  work,  after 
long  and  critical  examination : 

Western  Division — from  Port  Brito  to  the  Lake.     Distance, 

16.33  miles ;  estimated  cost $21,680,777.00 

Middle  Division — Lake  Nicaragua.     Distance,  56.50  miles ; 

estimated  cost 715,658.00 

Eastern    Division — from    Lake    to    Greytown.     Distance, 

108.43  miles ;  estimated  cost 25,020,914.00 

Construction  of  Greytown  Harbor 2,822,630.00 

"  Brito  "      2,337,739.00 


Total.    Distance,  181.26  miles;  cost $52,577,718.00 

A  subsequent  estimate,  based  on  more  recent  surveys  made  by 
Mr.  Menocal,  has  reduced  this  amount  to  $41,193,839 — a  reduction 
of  $11,383,879 ;  and  by  abandoning  the  valley  of  the  San  Juan 
River  in  favor  of  a  direct  route  to  Greytown, — ascertained  to  be 
entirely  practicable, — the  distance  is  reduced  to  173.57  miles,  the 
total  canalization  being  but  53.17  miles. 

It  is  well  known  that  the  Suez  Canal,  and,  in  fact,  almost  all 
great  public  works,  cost  far  more  than  the  estimates  made  by 
engineers.  But  applying  this  rule  most  liberally  cannot  bring 
the  outlay  on  the  Nicaragua  route  above  $100,000,000.  The  sur- 
veys of  this  route,  made  subsequent  to  those  of  the  other  routes 


112  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW. 

proposed,  have  developed  extraordinary  facilities  for  the  work. 
Materials  needed  for  construction  are  abundant  throughout  the 
entire  line.  The  harbors  of  Brito  and  Greytown,  at  the  western 
and  eastern  termini,  are  capable  of  being  easily  made  con- 
venient and  excellent.  The  water  supply  from  Lake  Nicara- 
gua is  free  from  deposit  and  is  abundant  and  easily  obtained 
— the  lake  itself  being  the  summit  level  o*  the  canal.  The 
rain-fall  is  not  excessive.  The  climate  during  the  trade  winds  is 
delightful.  The  country  is  capable  of  producing  all  the  subsist- 
ence that  would  be  required  by  the  laborers  employed  in  the  con- 
struction of  the  canal  The  local  productions  are  valuable,  and 
such  as  constitute  many  of  the  most  important  articles  of  com- 
merce. In  the  construction,  feeders,  tunnels,  and  viaducts  are 
not  necessary.  Dependent  nowhere  on  streams  which  in  the 
rainy  season  are  irresistibly  destructive,  and  in  the  dry  season 
are  reduced  to  mere  rivulets,  the  canal  would  always  be  provided 
with  a  uniform  and  easily  controlled  supply  of  water. 

A  canal  constructed  on  this  route,  and  at  the  estimates  before 
us,  could  not  fail  to  be  an  economical  highway  as  well  as  a  profit- 
able investment.  Estimating  the  cost  of  the  canal  at  $75,000,000, 
a  charge  of  $2.50,  for  canal  tolls  and  all  other  charges,  would  give 
a  gross  income  of  $10,000,000  on  the  4,000,000  tons  upon  which 
former  calculations  have  been  based.  Deducting  from  this 
$1,500,000  for  the  expenses  of  maintaining  and  operating  the 
canal,  we  have  $8,500,000  as  the  net  earnings  of  the  work.  Any 
reasonable  modification  of  these  figures  would  give  an  encourag- 
ing exhibit.  The  liberal  concessions  made  by  the  government  of 
Nicaragua  to  the  Provisional  Interoceanic  Canal  Society  indicate 
a  determination  on  the  part  of  that  government  to  make  the 
burthens  of  the  enterprise  as  light  as  possible,  and  to  leave  its 
government  entirely  in  the  hands  of  the  American  projectors. 
While  in  the  Panama  concession  provision  is  made  for  the  entry 
and  clearance  of  vessels  at  the  terminal  ports,  with  the  delays 
and  annoyances  usually  attending  such  requirements,  the  Nicara- 
gua concession  avoids  all  interference  by  custom-house  officials, 
except  so  far  as  to  prevent  smuggling  and  violations  of  the  cus- 
toms laws.  This  concession  ]n-<>vi<l«-s:  "There  shall  be  a  free 
zone  upon  each  bank  of  the  canal,  of  one  hundred  yards  in  width, 
measured  from  the  water's  edge,  it  being  understood  that  the 
lake  shores  shall  never  be  considered  as  the  margin  of  the  canal. 
Within  this  zone  no  illegal  traffic  shall  be  conducted,  and  the 


THE  NICARAGUA   CANAL.  113 

customs  authorities  will  watch  and  prevent  smuggling  in  accord- 
ance with  the  provisions  of  Article  32  [of  the  concession].  It  is 
expressly  understood  that  every  vessel  traversing  the  canal  will, 
whenever  the  authorities  desire  it,  receive  on  board  a  guard  [cus- 
toms officer]  appointed  by  the  government,  who  will,  in  case  of  dis- 
covering their  violation,  exercise  his  powers  in  accordance  with  the 
law.77  The  articles  of  the  concession  also  provide  that  the  "  two 
ports  to  be  constructed  and  to  serve  for  entrances  to  the  canal  on 
each  ocean  are  declared  to  be  free,  and  will  be  recognized  as  such 
from  the  beginning  of  the  work  to  the  end  of  this  concession.7' 
While  the  administration  and  management  of  the  Panama  Canal, 
moreover,  are  placed  in  the  hands  of  an  independent  company,  de- 
riving its  powers  from  a  foreign  government,  and  organized  on  the 
plan  adopted  in  the  construction  of  the  Suez  Canal,  the  commerce 
availing  itself  of  the  benefits  of  the  Nicaragua  Canal  is  protected 
by  the  government  of  that  country  against  all  extortion.  In 
Article  42,  the  concession  provides  that :  "  It  is  understood  that 
the  company,  in  the  exercise  of  the  powers  here  conferred,  cannot 
make  other  regulations  than  such  as  are  necessary  for  the  admin- 
istration and  management  of  the  canal,  and  before  issuing  these 
regulations  will  submit  them  to  the  government  for  its  approval.'7 
In  order  to  protect  still  further  the  interests  of  those  using  the 
canal,  it  is  provided  that  all  sums  necessary  to  secure  interest  on 
the  funded  debts,  obligations,  and  shares,  not  exceeding  six  per 
cent,  for  interest,  and  also  a  sinking  fund,  shall  be  reserved;  and 
that  u  what  remains  shall  form  the  net  gains,  of  which  at  least 
eighty  per  cent,  shall  be  divided  amongst  shareholders,  it  being 
understood,  after  ten  years  from  the  time  the  canal  is  completed, 
the  company  cannot  divide  amongst  the  shareholders,  either  by 
direct  dividends,  or  indirectly,  by  issuing  additional  shares  or 
otherwise,  more  than  fifteen  per  cent,  annually,  or  in  this  propor- 
tion, for  dues  collected  from  the  canal;  and  when  it  is  discovered 
that  the  charges  in  force  produce  a  greater  net  gain,  they  will  be 
reduced  to  the  basis  of  fifteen  per  cent,  per  year.77  These  provis- 
ions indicate  not  only  the  confidence  of  the  projectors  in  their 
enterprise,  but  also  the  determination  of  the  Nicaraguan  govern- 
ment to  guard  against  all  possible  injustice  to  the  commerce  find- 
ing a  highway  there. 

That  there  are  other  advantages  contained  in  the  concession  of 
the  Nicaraguan  government,  and  in  the  proposed  administration 
and  management  of  the  Nicaragua  Canal,  there  should  be  no 


114  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  REVIEW. 

doubt  in  the  mind  of  every  American  who  believes  in  the  power 
and  supremacy  of  his  government  on  this  continent.  The  con- 
cession is  made  to  Americans,  the  society  is  made  up  of  Ameri- 
cans, the  corporators  are  Americans,  and  the  act  of  incorpo- 
ration is  asked  of  an  American  Congress.  Every  step  of  this 
project  recognizes  the  right  of  the  United  States  to  guard  with 
jealous  care  the  American  continent  against  the  encroachment 
of  foreign  powers.  To  this  policy  no  nation  and  no  cluster  of 
adjacent  nations,  watchful  of  their  own  individual  or  collective 
interests,  should  take  exception.  It  is  the  foundation  of  national 
existence  everywhere.  An  American  man-of-war,  having  on 
board  the  greatest  naval  commander  of  modern  times,  pauses  for 
forty-eight  hours  at  the  mouth  of  the  Bosphorus  to  recognize  the 
right  of  an  European  power  to  control  the  waters  of  the  Dar- 
danelles and  the  Black  Sea.  It  cannot  be  supposed  for  a 
moment  that  an  American  company,  incorporated  by  the  Ameri- 
can government,  organized  on  American  soil,  would  have  been 
allowed  to  construct  the  Suez  Canal,  even  if  it  had  established 
a  branch  of  its  enterprise  in  France  and  placed  it  under  the 
supervision  of  a  distinguished  and  representative  French  official. 
And  so  it  is  with  us.  The  policy  laid  down  in  the  early  days  of 
the  Republic,  and  accepted  from  that  time  to  this  by  the  Ameri- 
can mind,  by  which  the  colonization  of  other  nationalities  on 
these  shores  was  protested  against,  should  never  be  forgotten. 
The  violation  of  this  policy  has  always  roused  the  American 
people  to  a  firm  assertion  of  their  rights,  and  cost  one  American 
statesman,  at  least,  a  large  share  of  the  laurels  he  had  won  by  long 
and  honorable  service.  The  application  of  this  principle  even 
now  secures  safety  and  protection  to  a  line  of  railway  spanning 
the  Isthmus,  and  connecting  the  eastern  with  the  western  waters. 
The  assertion  of  this  principle  by  a  treaty  made  with  Nicaragua 
in  1849  is  accepted  to-day  by  all  Americans,  people  and  officials, 
with  entire  satisfaction.  The  rejection  of  that  treaty  in  order  to 
prevent  a  collision  between  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain, 
and  to  preserve  unharmed  the  policy  of  an  administration,  is 
regarded  as  one  of  the  most  complicating  and  compromising  acts 
of  American  diplomacy.  The  accepted  and  acceptable  policy  of 
the  American  government  is  contained  in  the  doctrine  announced 
more  than  half  a  century  ago  by  President  Monroe.  It  is  to  be 
found  in  the  attitude  assumed  by  our  government  in  all  the  long 
«li|.l«»iii;iiir  dix  ussion  which  followed  the  ratification  of  the 


THE  NICARAGUA   CANAL.  115 

Clayton-Bulwer  treaty ; — a  discussion  in  which  General  Cass,  then 
Secretary  of  State,  declared  an  analogous  treaty  as  recognizing 
"principles  of  foreign  intervention  repugnant  to  the  policy  of 
the  United  States"; — a  discussion  in  which  by  negotiation  Great 
Britain  was  compelled  to  recognize  the  "sovereignty  of  Hon- 
duras over  the  islands  composing  the  so-called  British  Colony  of 
the  Bay  Islands"; — a  discussion  in  which  the  President  of  the 
United  States  "  denounced  the  Clayton-Bulwer  treaty  as  one 
which  had  been  fraught  with  misunderstanding  and  mischief 
from  the  beginning."  "If  the  Senate,"  said  the  President  to 
Lord  Napier,  "had  imagined  that  the  Clayton-Bulwer  treaty 
could  obtain  the  interpretation  placed  upon  it  by  Great  Britain, 
it  would  not  have  passed;  and  if  I  had  been  in  the  Senate  at 
the  time,  it  never  would  have  passed."  It  is  in  obedience  to  this 
policy  that  the  United  States  has  protested  against  the  estab- 
lishment by  Great  Britain  of  a  protectorate  in  Central  America, 
either  on  the  Mosquito  coast  or  on  the  Bay  Islands.  And  it  is 
in  accordance  with  this  policy  that  President  Hayes,  in  his  mes- 
sage of  March  8th,  1880,  declared  that: 

"The  policy  of  this  country  is  a  canal  under  American  control.  The 
United  States  cannot  consent  to  the  surrender  of  this  control  to  any  European 
power  or  to  any  combination  of  European  powers.  .  .  .  The  capital  invested 
by  corporations  or  citizens  of  other  countries  in  such  an  enterprise  must  in  a 
great  degree  look  for  protection  to  one  or  more  of  the  great  powers  of  the 
world.  No  European  power  can  intervene  for  such  protection  without  adopt- 
ing measures  on  this  continent  which  the  United  States  would  deem  wholly 
inadmissible.  If  the  protection  of  the  United  States  is  relied  upon,  the 
United  States  must  exercise  such  control  as  will  enable  this  country  to  pro- 
tect its  national  interests  and  maintain  the  rights  of  those  whose  private 
capital  is  embarked  in  the  work. 

"An  interoceanie  canal  across  the  American  isthmus  will  essentially 
change  the  geographical  relations  between  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific  coasts  of 
the  United  States,  and  between  the  United  States  and  the  rest  of  the  world. 
It  will  be  the  great  ocean  thoroughfare  between  our  Atlantic  and  our  Pacific 
shores,  and  virtually  a  part  of  the  coast-line  of  the  United  States.  Our 
merely  commercial  interest  in  it  is  greater  than  that  of  all  other  countries, 
while  its  relations  to  our  power  and  prosperity  as  a  nation,  to  our  means  of 
defense,  our  unity,  peace,  and  safety,  are  matters  of  paramount  concern  to 
the  people  of  the  United  States.  No  other  great  power  would,  under  similar 
circumstances,  fail  to  assert  a  rightful  control  over  a  work  so  closely  and 
vitally  affecting  its  interest  and  welfare." 

In  accordance  with  the  early  and  later  policy  of  the  govern- 
ment, in  obedience  to  the  often-expressed  will  of  the  American 


116  THE  NOETH  AMERICAN  EEVIEW. 

people,  with  a  due  regard  to  our  national  dignity  and  power, 
with  a  watchful  care  for  the  safety  and  prosperity  of  our  interests 
and  industries  on  this  continent,  and  with  a  determination  to 
guard  against  even  the  first  approach  of  rival  powers,  whether 
friendly  or  hostile,  on  these  shores,  I  commend  an  American 
canal,  on  American  soil,  to  the  American  people,  and  congratulate 
myself  on  the  fact  that  the  most  careful  explorations  have 
demonstrated  that  the  route  standing  in  this  attitude  before  the 
world  is  the  one  which  commends  itself  as  a  judicious,  econom- 
ical, and  prosperous  work. 

I  have  formed  the  opinions  expressed  in  this  article,  not  from 
a  hasty  consideration  of  the  subject,  and  not  without  personal 
observation.  While  commanding  the  army  of  the  United  States, 
my  attention  was  drawn  to  the  importance  of  the  water  commu- 
nication I  have  here  discussed.  During  my  administration  of  the 
government,  I  endeavored  to  impress  upon  the  country  the  views 
I  then  formed ;  and  I  shall  feel  that  I  have  added  one  more  act  of 
my  life  to  those  I  have  already  recorded,  if  I  shall  succeed  in 
impressing  up'on  Congress  and  the  people  the  high  value,  as  a 
commercial  and  industrial  enterprise,  of  this  great  work,  which,  if 
not  accomplished  by  Americans,  will  undoubtedly  be  accomplished 
by  some  one  of  our  rivals  in  power  and  influence. 

U.  S.  GRANT. 


